Kari Lake lost again.
An Arizona judge has dismissed a lawsuit she filed challenging the victory Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs saw against her in the state’s governor’s race this year, a case in which Lake — a Trump-backed Republican — sought a declaration she won or a redo of the contest specifically in Arizona’s Maricopa County.
Among her team’s focuses during trial earlier this week were claims about printer issues affecting ballots in Maricopa County this year, but the judge concluded she failed to establish that any problems seen were intentional, meant to affect how the election turned out, or actually did affect how the race ended. Voters who encountered problems at polling places on Election Day could either go to another in the county or leave their ballots for later tabulation, a back-up option long available.
Witnesses who spoke during this week’s trial include Stephen Richer, who helps run elections in Maricopa County. Testifying in court, he answered a direct question from an attorney for the county about whether he took any action to impede printers correctly producing ballots, saying no. Scott Jarrett, who also helps handle elections in the county, also spoke during trial, attesting how voters encountering issues because of the printers had other options for casting their ballots.
“We had some printers not printing some tiny marks on our ballots dark enough to be read in by the tabulation equipment. Voters had legal and valid options to still be able to participate within our elections,” he explained. Others who spoke included Heather Honey, who is active in challenging elections and talked about an employee with the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) allegedly telling her ballots were not counted before going to a company called Runbeck. Others, however, argued such was standard elections practice. Runbeck is a third-party contractor the county employs in processing ballots cast during local elections.
Honey also alleged an employee at Runbeck told her of the company allowing their staff to add ballots they and their families completed to the official caches of votes without going through the county. No judicially accepted evidence proving that arrangement was presented.
Other litigation filed by failed Republican candidates in statewide elections in Arizona has also failed. Abe Hamadeh, who lost in the race for attorney general, saw his case dismissed this week after alleging that over 100 provisional ballots cast on Election Day improperly were uncounted. In court proceedings this week, a lawyer for Maricopa County — which is Arizona’s biggest by population and where many conspiracy theories and complaints this year have focused — provided a comprehensive breakdown for how local officials handled provisional ballots from Election Day. The Republican National Committee joined that case as a plaintiff.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
